Speeches held at the Riksbank's spring meeting

"The new Executive Board has endeavoured to ensure that the Riksbank is as open and clear in its intentions as possible. We on the General Council welcome this approach and I hope that others can also appreciate it," said Sven Hulterström, Chairman of the General Council of the Riksbank, as he welcomed participants to the Riksbank's spring meeting at the Nationalmuseum.

"The publication of quarterly inflation reports containing forecasts, the speeches held by members of the Executive Board and the publication of the minutes from the meetings makes it easier to evaluate the Riksbank," said Hulterström.

Governor of the Riksbank Urban Bäckström held a speech under the heading "Sveriges Riksbank, the value of money, and our new environment".

"When we established a strategy for creating confidence in our monetary policy, one of the foundation-stones was openness," said Bäckström.

First Deputy Governor of the Riksbank Lars Heikensten concluded with a talk on the organisation of the Riksbank.

"In practice, there are many connections between openness and clarity in relation to the outside world and the way in which the internal work is pursued. We have used clear goals as a means of focusing the internal work and intensifying analyses. As we have reduced the secretiveness, we have also been able to invite more people to take part in real discussions, for instance on monetary policy. We have opened ourselves up to a sharper and more detailed criticism. And this has been good for us," said Heikensten.